Mountie Mountain to serve as outdoor classroom for Stroudsburg schools

Friday

Oct 26, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Stroudsburg School District teachers and community volunteers will unveil a new type of classroom this morning. At 10 a.m., they will hold a special ribbon-cutting ceremony for "Mountie Mountain," an outdoor learning space with walking trails that's been in the making for three years.

CHRISTINA TATU

Stroudsburg School District teachers and community volunteers will unveil a new type of classroom this morning.

At 10 a.m., they will hold a special ribbon-cutting ceremony for "Mountie Mountain," an outdoor learning space with walking trails that's been in the making for three years.

"It's an outdoor teaching space that we are really going to utilize," said Joanna Kovacs, a Stroudsburg Junior High School physical education teacher. "It's about getting the kids back outside. There are so many things that can be done with this space."

The project was constructed on a wooded section of land connecting the Intermediate, Middle and Junior High schools.

The project coincides with the Stroud Region Open Space and Recreation's Levee Loop Trail Master Plan, which seeks to eventually create walking trails linking the area's stores, schools and other important facilities.

Stroudsburg's Mountie Mountain was built entirely by volunteers and paid for by grants and donations.

In the spring, volunteers and students helped to clear the trails. Eagle Scouts worked to build exercise stations along the trail and school board member Richard Pierce built a deck with a grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection where students can sit.

East Stroudsburg University environmental education students have been helping since day one, Kovacs said. They assisted staff in putting together a curriculum that will focus on the outdoor trail and learning spaces, which will be utilized by K-12 students.

"Our main focus will be to change people's perceptions about the value of the natural world and to teach how to change environmental behaviors, such as getting people to recycle or building eco-friendly dwellings," said a statement from the school district.

Kovacs said although the district is opening Mountie Mountain today, it will continue to work on expanding it. It will primarily be used by students, but eventually may be open to the entire community, she said.

As part of today's ceremony, school officials will give 40 walking sticks to volunteers and donors who worked closely on the project. The volunteers and groups of students will then set off on a hike of the mountain.

East Stroudsburg School District has undertaken a similar outdoor classroom project. Last year, it opened a one-mile interpretive trail on property at the North High School campus, behind Bushkill Elementary School.

The trail took seven years to build because it was delayed by zoning and setback requirements due to wetlands on the property. Work on that trail continues, with the hope of eventually adding learning stations along the walking path.